Police: 2 stabbings in Santa Ana might be related

SANTA ANA – Police are looking into the possibility that two stabbings Monday night and early Tuesday may be related.

In each case, according to police, a stabbing happened after an altercation between the victim and a woman and one or two men in a parking lot.

A stabbing shortly after midnight left a 22-year-old man critically injured, police said.

The stabbing was reported about 12:25 a.m. Tuesday in the 900 block of North Bewley Street, near Hazard Avenue, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Officers found a man suffering from multiple stab wounds. He was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was listed in critical condition, Bertagna said.

A woman had asked the victim for help with her car and directed him to the parking lot of an apartment complex, Bertagna said. There, he was confronted by a man who chased him and stabbed him several times, Bertagna said.

"At first glance it would appear that he was lured there to be robbed, but detectives are looking at everything," Bertagna said.

The attackers, both described as being in theirs mid-20s, fled before police arrived.

Detectives are also investigating another stabbing, reported about 9:40 p.m. Monday, in the parking lot of a business in the 1300 block of North Harbor Boulevard.

Officers were called to Garden Grove Hospital about a 19-year-old man who had been stabbed in the upper torso, Bertagna said, adding that his injuries were not considered life-threatening.

It appears that the victim got into an altercation with a woman and two men before he was stabbed, Bertagna said.

Anyone with information about the stabbings was asked to call Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) TIP-OCCS.